Hey Brother
by HeyBrotherGF
Summary: The bond between siblings is like no other. Strong like iron, Dipper and Mabel's siblinghood is amazing and sweet. But when their lives start to fall apart, remains one question: How strong can a sibling bond be?
1. Chapter 1

Gravity Falls, Oregon. 19th July 2012.

The morning sun lightened the Mystery Shack attic. The wooden boards of the walls and the floor had a warm golden brightness, reflected by the sunlight.

"Oh man... this day's being boring as hell..." Dipper moaned, covering his face with his hands, lying on his bed.

"Well, Waddles is having fun with the grappling hook. Ain't that right?" Mabel answered with a smile, petting her little pig.

Waddles was chewing Mabel's grappling hook. Suddenly, his teeth pressed the trigger and the claws flew in Dipper's direction.

"Whoa!" He gasped, before dodging in the last second.

Mabel almost died from laughter, kicking her legs on her bed.

"Your darn pig almost killed me!" Dipper exclaimed, his heart beating fast with the shock.

Waddles oinked, as if it was an answer to Dipper. "Oink oink."

"Yeesh, bore makes you grumpy." Mabel said.

She sat on her bed's messy blankets and continued enjoying the music from her MP3. Her headphones were hidden by her smooth, wavy brown hair, the sunlight giving them a golden brightness.  
Dipper stared at her, suddenly curious.

"What are you listening to?" He asked.

"Hmm, what a coincidence! "Disco Girl" from BABBA!" Mabel exclaimed with a sly smile on her face.

"Really?!" Dipper jumped off his bed and rushed to the MP3.

"I was just joking, you bonehead! It's playing "Something I Need" from OneRepublic." Mabel laughed.

Dipper grunted. "That wasn't amusing at all." He said.

"Well, for me it was, you weirdo." Mabel smiled to her brother. "This music is amazing!" She added.

Dipper returned to his bed and stared at the ceiling.

"Oh... I already read the entire Journal, half the pages are blank!" Dipper sighed and covered his face with his hands again. "It just doesn't make any sense..."

"Oh, Dipper. Stop thinking about that creepy jornal for just one second! It's gonna drive you insane!" Mabel answered, while playing with Waddles, lifting and lowering his tiny hoofs as if he was a puppet.

A long silence succeeded, as Dipper was lying on his bed, lost in his thoughts and Mabel was listening to music while playing with Waddles on her bed.

"Hey, Dipper!" An idea came up to Mabel's mind.

Dipper took his hands off his face and looked at his sister.

"Wanna take a look at our summer photos?"

Dipper's eyes lightened as he filled with cheer. "Say no more, sis'! Go get your scrapbook!"

In no time, Mabel put her scrapbook on Dipper's bed and sat next to him.

"Hey, I love this music! _All About That Bass_! You should listen with me!" Mabel exclaimed as the music began playing.

"Please, Mabel. Not _All About That Bass_. That music is so crappy and annoying, please..." Dipper protested.

"Fine! I'll hear it on my own. Boys..." Mabel answered, a little vexed.

They opened the book.

"Look! It's our first family photo! Remember when we were at our uncle's house at Christmas time?" Mabel pointed at the photo of their parents holding the Twins in their arms.

"We were 2 years old, Mabel. I only remember it because of this photo. But yeah... You were cute back then, sister. You weren't that much of a brat." Dipper joked, smiling to his sister.

"Well, I liked you back then, too. You weren't that much of a wet blanket." Mabel countered, amused.

Then, she moved on from that page. She found a photo of her, Dipper and their parents.

"Oh! It's our whole family kickboxing! Remember that you started to cry because I punched you and we had to stop?"

"Mabel, when you're kickboxing you're supposed to kick, not to punch." Dipper's expression clearly said "seriously?".

"No. Nah nah. You're wrong. You can punch too." She promptly answered, swinging her finger in negation.

"No you can't!"

"Yes I do!"

"Yeah, but it's mainly kicking." He stubbornly countered his sister.

"No it's not." Mabel insisted.

"Yeah, whatever." Dipper scoffed with a smile on his face.

"You're saying that 'cause you know I'm right." Mabel frowned, showing a triumphant smile.

"GAAAAAHHH! Look, bro-bro! It's you in your lamby lamby costume! It's that photo I showed Wendy when I found out you had a crush on her, remember?" Mabel exclaimed.

"Oh, yeah. That day. Why, Mabel, just why did you have to show her that?" Dipper complained, looking at the ceiling.

"Oh, you should thank me! She was just drowned in your cuteness! Just look at yourself!" Mabel squeezed her own cheeks.

Mabel and Dipper kept looking at their memories, perusing the book's pages. Mabel slowly began singing the lyrics from the music.

_ Because you know I'm all about that bass_

_ 'bout that bass, no treble_

_ I'm all 'bout that bass, 'bout that bass, no treble_

_ I'm all 'bout that bass, 'bout that bass, no treble_

_ I'm all 'bout that bass, 'bout that bass_

"MABEL..." Dipper just hated that music, and Mabel knew that. He was about to yell at his sister, but then he took a deep breath and controlled himself, saying calmly "...can you please stop singing that song?"

Mabel looked at her twin brother. She sighed and said "Okay, fine... I'll just listen to another one."

After a few seconds, she got excited about the new music.

"Oh, this music is great! _Hey Brother_ from Avicii. It's about siblings! This one you have to listen with me!"

Dipper liked Avicii. "Fine." He put an headphone on and the rhythmic music started to fill his soul, as he moved on from that page.

The next one was a page where he and Mabel were at their house's garden staring at a footprint with intrigue. Dipper realized that their spirit of adventure after all was always there. And they would always be together on their adventures, untill the end.

Then there was a page with a photo of the Twins doing their first awkward sibling hug. He remembered how much he loved his sister, more than any friend he ever had, more than he ever could explain in words. Their bond was strong, special.

He moved to a page where Mabel was healing Dipper at their home. Dipper had some little injuries and she had too, not as much as him, though._  
_  
"Remember? That time when some jerks bullied you and I saved your skin? I'm the world's best sister, admit it!" Mabel smiled with pride.

"Yes... You are, sister." Dipper said, glad. "You got wounded too. Why did you fight them?"

"Because you are my brother." Mabel answered as if it was obvious, but with sweetness.  
Dipper didn't know what to say.

The next page was Mabel's _Failed_ Summer Romances. Her smile vanished as she looked at all her crushes with sadness. Dipper just stared at her as she looked at that page.

_Hey sister, do you still believe in love I wonder?_

That was what Dipper wanted to ask his sister.  
Mermando, Norman, Gabe, Sev'ral Timez... Everyone of those had left her, one way or another... Differently than her brother. Then, Mabel realized that her brother cared more about her than any of her crushes, even Mermando.

They skipped a few pages, untill the summer day when they left home and took the bus to Gravity Falls. After a photo of them with their bags at the bus station, they found a special photo.

"Oh my God! It's the Bus Selfie!" Mabel screamed with excitement.

"Oh, I remember it." Dipper said with a smile.

They took that selfie inside the bus, waiting to arrive in Gravity Falls. They were hugging each other with one hand and holding the camera with the other, Dipper smiling and Mabel showing her tongue in a goofy expression. Dipper could almost feel their happiness in that photo.

"Look! Our photos from when we went to the "Butt" island!" Mabel exclaimed.  
Between the multiple photos of beavers taken by Soos, they found their photos with Grunkle Stan and the handyman of the Shack, fishing, listening to Stan's jokes, stealing fish from other boats and running away from Durland and Blubs. It was sweet and heartwarming seeing they all together. Those people, Dipper never wanted to leave. It was his family. That summer changed his life forever. That summer strengthened his relationship with his sister, with his family, made him discover who he truly was. An adventurer. A leader. A hero. A brother.

They then perused those pages filled with their adventures in Gravity Falls before Gideon took over the Shack and their lives. Before they went to the Tent of Telepathy for the first time, when they had that party at the Shack, their sleepover after they got separated bedrooms. They were always together in the best and worst moments.

Dipper was perusing the pages, drowned in these feelings, when he changed from a page, and suddenly, found a drawing. A drawing made by Mabel. She and her brother were falling in the empty sky full of orange and golden clouds, Mabel with the grappling hook on an hand, and trying to reach out to Dipper with the other, that was falling below her. It clearly was a drawing of that time when Dipper was fighting with Gideon after he took over the Shack, and the robot fell from the bridge. Dipper would be dead if it wasn't his sister. His miraculous sister. He could still feel the distress of that seconds when he was falling, trying to reach his sister's hand, and the relief when he felt his sister's hand holding his and stopped feeling the dashing, cutting wind.

He didn't even know she drew that drawing. He couldn't believe it.

"Oh... Mabel..." Dipper stammered. He wanted to say something, but couldn't find the right words. He couldn't keep that feeling for himself.

"Bro-bro... are you okay?" Mabel had never seen his brother like that before.  
Dipper perused the pages from Mabel's scrapbook very quickly. All the memories, all the moments they passed together, since when they were born. They had faced life together. Dipper realized how lucky he was to have a friend to face it with him. He was never alone.  
Then, he stopped in the last page of the scrapbook, and was surprised to see a photo of both, Mabel making a goofy face and showing her tongue and Dipper smiling and putting two fingers behind Mabel's head as if they were horns. He remembered it, they took that photo in Gravity Falls. He was happy to see that Mabel valorized their siblinghood as much as he did.

"Are you crying? Maybe I shouldn't..."

Mabel was caught by surprise when Dipper gave her a sudden, tight hug. The headphones fell to the floor with the strength of that hug._  
_  
"DIPPER?" She got a little scared by her brother's attitude.

"Mabel... You're my best friend..." Dipper said, holding his tears.

"Why, of course I am!" Mabel answered. "Just stop... You're giving me wet eyes, man..."

"I would be lost without you... Please, PLEASE, never leave me. I love you, sis'..."

"You're acting weird, dude..." Mabel was about to cry, she didn't quite understand why.

Dipper was still holding his tears.

"I don't know why we're crying, but... You can cry, bro-bro... Cry if it makes you feel better..." Mabel whispered.

"Heck, I'm sorry, Mabel. I'm being a wimpy..." Dipper started.

"Shh... You are being sweet, Dipper. I love you too. You are the best brother I could ever have." Mabel interrupted Dipper, talking with a sweet voice.

That was the longest and most awkward sibling hug they ever did.


	2. Chapter 2

Piedmont, California. 4th July 2018

Time passed after that heartwarming morning.  
More adventures, Dipper saving Mabel, Mabel saving Dipper, as good siblings should do. Sadness and great depression when they left Gravity Falls. Their parents had already planned to go to Arizona next summer vacations. Dipper's and Mabel's devastation was relieved by happiness when their 13th birthday came, and the thoughts that they would be back to Oregon sooner or later.  
Weeks, months, years. 14, 15, 16, 17, and sooner than they would expect, they were already 18 years old, beginning university. Same university, different paths. Dipper, science. Mabel, arts. Dipper had always been that kind of guy fascinated by finding an explanation to everything, an explorer of even the most simple aspects of life. His excellent grades would allow him to go to sciences too. Mabel has always been an artist by heart. Kind, childish heart, her dreamspace was warm and inviting as a child's, unlike most adults. People with special hearts like this become artists. But the Twins still usually spent most of their time together, as they did as kids.  
Since their 14th birthday, their parents had decided to let them spend all their summer vacations at their grunkle's shack.  
Their parents were surprised by how much the Twins loved being there, especially Dipper, who was always complaining in the beginning of the summer and seemed to hate being in the Mystery Shack without his videogames.  
Eventually, he would substitute videogames for books, stinging eyes due to being hours playing and a sedentary lifestyle for a strong, adventure-loving soul and a love for being outside and searching for mystery. Dipper was born an adventurer by heart, but never showed it. His summer vacation at Gravity Falls made him release and discover this side of him, made him discover who he truly was.

Then, summer vacations came one more time.

Dipper and Mabel took the bus when the class was over. When they arrived in their home, Dipper picked up his iPhone and called their parents.

"Hey mom." He said. His mother's voice was a soft, caring one. "Yeah, we're here. We're fine. Did you arrive in Gravity Falls yet? Oh. Okay. Mom, I'm not a baby. I can take care of myself and my sister. Yeah, don't speak to strangers. Seriously? We're 18! Yeah... Fine. I love you too, mom. Bye." Dipper put the phone on the living room table and sat in the sofa with his sister.

"So? How's Grunkle Stan?" Mabel asked with some anxiety.

"I dunno. They didn't arrive in Gravity Falls yet..." Dipper's voice transpired some worry.

"Dipper, he said he was just fine when our parents called him." Mabel comforted her brother with concern.

"Yeah, I know..." Dipper kept staring at the floor, his legs supporting his arms as he sat on the sofa with a very teen-like pose.

Dipper and Mabel always went to Gravity Falls during the summer. But, that time, their parents decided to visit Grunkle Stan sooner to help him with the Shack, as he was already 81. Dipper and Mabel had agreed with their parents to stay one week at home and then join them, as Dipper wanted some time alone with his sister to talk about the supernatural things that had occurred.

Mabel stared at him in silence and concern for a while.  
"Let's just see what's on TV." She said, picking up the remote and turning on the TV to cheer him up a bit.  
Mabel turned on the TV on Cartoon Network.

Dipper didn't like the idea. "Mabel, seriously? Cartoon Network? We aren't-"

"Shh! Dipper... look." Mabel said. Dipper looked at the screen. They just stared at it in silence. A calm, melancholic music played in the piano began. They knew that show.

_Led through the mist,_

_By the milk-light of moon,_

_All that was lost, is revealed._

_Our long bygone burdens, mere echoes of the spring,_

_But where have we come, and where shall we end?_

_If dreams can't come true, then why not pretend?_

_Oh how the gentle wind,_

_Beckons through the leaves,_

_As autumn colors fall._

"Dipper, it's _Over the Garden Wall_!" Mabel exclaimed, excited. "Remember when we saw it as kids?"

"_Over the Garden Wall_? I can't believe it! They aired it again!" Dipper said, laughing from happiness and excitement.  
Their eyes were stuck on the TV screen again, as when they were watching the show for the first time. That moment made them return to the golden memories of their childhood, when they watched _Over the Garden Wall_. That show was just like magic to them, it made them return to the old classics. Over the Garden Wall was like an all-time classic to them, a nostalgic memory of their childhood.

Dipper still remembered that, when they were watching the last episode, Mabel started crying when Greg had been tricked by the Beast and Wirt had come to save his younger brother. Dipper put the arm on her shoulder, hugging her.

_"Mabel... If you were tricked by the Beast... you know I would do anything to save you, right?" Dipper began._

_Mabel sniffled and wiped the tears, smiling to her brother. "I know, bro-bro..."_

_Dipper smiled and gently pulled his sister closer to him._

Dipper felt lucky to have such memories kept in his heart.  
_Over the Garden Wall_ had been such an important part of their childhood. Not compared to their first summer at Gravity Falls, though. It was definitely the most important memory they kept.

In the middle of the second episode of Over the Garden Wall, Dipper's phone rang.

"Wait, Mabel." Dipper said as he got up and picked up the phone. It was their mother again.

"Hi, mom." He said. His mother's voice answered, loud, distressed and trembling. Dipper was shocked with what he just heard.  
"Grunkle Stan WHAT?" He yelled."No... No, can't be... Wait, wait, hang on, we're coming right now!"


	3. Chapter 3

"Mabel, come!" Dipper grabbed his sister's arm and dragged her into their car.  
Their parents had given the Twins a car in their 18th birthday, and allowed them to use it "only if absolutely and strictly necessary". Dipper got his driving license some weeks later. And he did pretty well with it.

"Dipper, what the heck happened?!" Mabel exclaimed, lost and confused.

"There's no time to explain, I'll tell you in the car!" Dipper answered her, tense and nervous, his voice trembling.

They got into the car, put their seat belts and disappeared from Piedmont quickly as ghosts.

"What? Are you sure?" Mabel yelled shocked.

"Yeah, that's what Mom told me." Dipper's voice never sounded so trembling.

"Dipper, careful!" Mabel shouted.  
They almost hit a car. And dodged in the last second.

"STOP SCREAMING!" Dipper shouted back, raising his voice.

"Okay, sorry. You always drive so well, please, I know you're nervous, but focus! I don't wanna end up dead in the road!" Mabel was way too nervous too.

Dipper usually drove very well and safely, but no one could blame him right now for driving way too fast and bluntly.  
Not even when the dusk appeared in the sky Dipper succumbed. "Why... Just why..." He whispered more than one time.

Gravity Falls, Oregon. 5th July 2018. 3:26 am

The sky was dark like the feathers of a raven. No clouds, no stars in the sky. Only the white moon illuminating everything.  
The Mystery Shack was completely empty. The Twins rushed into the door. Dipper pushed it with so much strenght it made a deafening noise when it hit the wall.  
They were paralyzed by the horror of what they just saw.  
Grunkle Stan was lying on the floor of the gift shop, near the vending machine, bleeding from some big wounds.

The Twins couldn't say anything, they just rushed to Stan's moribund body and knelt next to him.

"Grunkle Stan! Oh my God, how could this happen?" Dipper lamented.  
Stan was still alive, but barely. He was just looking at Dipper, breathing with difficulty.

Mabel started crying, holding her grunkle's hand. "Grunkle Stan... You... You'll be alright! You'll be fine, I know it! Please..."

"We'll leave you alone." Their mother said. Their parents left the Shack.

Dipper's eyes became wet. He couldn't bare the possibility of losing his grunkle, who passed through so many adventures with them, protected them so many times. Stan was almost like a father to him. Dipper remembered that time when he entered Grunkle Stan's mind to protect it from Bill and found that memory.

_"You see it? That's why I'm hard on Dipper. To toughen him up. So when the world fights, he fights back."_

_"Do you think it's actually working?"_ said Soos back then.

_"He's really comin' along! When push comes to shove... I'm actually proud of him. Just.. don't ever tell him that. His head is big enough as it is."_

A tear trickled through his cheek as he remembered that words. _"I'm actually proud of him." _No. He couldn't die. Not now.  
He wiped the tear and started examinating his Grunkle's wounds. They prooved clearly that Stan was murdered, and didn't die from his declining age, though he was already 81.  
He felt a shiver when he saw through the blinding darkness that Stan's white shirt was torn in the abdomen, that had a very very ugly wound, bleeding a lot.

Horrified, he shouted to his sister "Mabel! Go get a roller bandage to stop the bleeding! Now!"

Mabel looked at her brother's face. It was so dark she could barely see him. His eyes were bright with the reflection of the moon, his skin with a dark, blue-ish shade. She had never seen her brother so distressed in her life. She felt so sorry for him. His condition was pitiful. With her sweater soaked in tears, she turned the gift shop upside down, frenetically searching for roller bandages.

"Mabel..." Dipper started. He couldn't wait anymore for the roller bandages. He sighed nervously, took his gray hoody jacket off and wrapped his grunkle's wound with it.  
"Please... Please, speak to me, man. Say something..." He begged, holding his tears.

Suddenly, Grunkle Stan coughed, spitting a little blood.

Dipper widened his eyes. "MABEL!" He called.

Mabel rushed as a cheetah to Dipper and Stan.

"Hi, kids..." Stan said with a weak voice, breathing heavily.

Mabel drowned herself in tears for hearing her grunkle's voice again. Even Dipper started to cry.

"Oh, man... Oh man! I can't believe it! Come on, hold on! How do you feel?" He asked with anxiety.

Grunkle Stan coughed before he spoke again. "Dipper... Mabel... Yeesh, sorry for leaving you like this..."

Mabel held her tears "Oh, please, don't apologize! You WON'T leave us!"

"Look..." Stan looked at his nephews deep in their eyes. "I want to tell you something. Dipper... I... I have to say... I was always tough with you. Most of the times too tough. Sorry for mocking and insulting you sometimes, kid. It may look like I prefer Mabel over you at times... I just didn't want you to end up like me... But... I am proud of you, boy. You are a hero, kid. A true hero. You've always made me proud."  
Dipper could barely hold his tears in that moment. He didn't know what to say.  
"Keep protecting your sister. Now, Mabel, come here, girl."

Mabel approached from her Grunkle and held his hand with strenght.

"You were always my sunshine. That times when you used to cheer me up... and... " He coughed. "... And make me laugh and tell me jokes... I hope you receive as much happiness as you gave in your life."

Mabel gave him a painful smile, and with her face wet of tears, she hugged her brother. Dipper couldn't hold his tears anymore. So he cried his eyes out. For him, it felt like he cried so hard that cry could relieve all his problems. Wendy and Robbie, the bullies at his school, the fact that no one in Gravity Falls ever believed in him or his abilities unless his close friends. But it didn't relieve anything. He felt miserable.

"I love you, kids... You were the light in my life. I never felt so happy as when I was spending the summers with you two. You made me realize... You made me realize that the most important thing in life isn't money. Dipper and Mabel... please, say to your parents I thank them forever for bringing you to my life... and please, promise me... that you'll remain together and protect each other..."

"Yes, YES! I promise!" Dipper exclaimed.

"I'll do Pinkie Promise!" Mabel cried.

Both Twins held their grunkle's hands.

"I can't just leave this good ol' shack abandoned... Please, Dipper. You are the most mature person I've ever known. Please make sure the Shack is running properly."

Dipper kept in silence for some seconds. "M-Me?" He finally stammered, his voice trembling.

"Yeah, kid. You are the owner now... Mabel..." He coughed hard. "Please... would you be as kind... as to be the co-owner of this old thing?" He asked, looking around him.

"Oh... Grunkle Stan, of course!" Mabel exclaimed, crying.

"I love you, kids. Never... forget that... Dipper." The boy looked at his grunkle with attention. "Raise the prices, kid. You deserve it."

"Grunkle Stan..." Mabel whispered, unable to talk louder because of crying so much.

"GRUNKLE STAN?!" Dipper yelled, wagging his grunkle's body.

Mabel and Dipper didn't know what to do, only cried and cried. His grunkle was gone forever.

That would be Grunkle Stan's last breath. He left the Twins and took a piece of their souls with him.


	4. Chapter 4

Gravity Falls, Oregon. 6th July 2018. 7:53 pm

It was a dark, gloomy day. For more strange it could be, it seemed like the weather had felt Stan's death too.  
Dipper wore a fancy suit that once belonged to his grunkle when he was in the beginning of his career has the owner of the Shack.  
Mabel wore a long black dress that belonged to their mother. It made her look beautiful, yet dead and even more mournful than she already was. Waddles, who was sleeping in the kitchen the day Dipper and Mabel returned home from school and received the call, had come with her, wearing a completely black sweater. Even the little chubby pig seemed to have a sad expression on his face.  
They found Wendy and Soos in the middle of the crowd. Soos wore a fancy suit too and Wendy wore a black dress, even longer and darker than Mabel's. Soos looked devastated. He had just lost the person that for him was the nearest to a true father. And Wendy's daredevil, happy and adventurous spirit seemed so dead... Obviously, the Twins weren't the only ones to suffer with Stan's death. And Dipper's heart hurt even more from seeing Soos, but mainly Wendy, in that state. He had never seen her like that.  
The Twins joined them.

"Hi, dudes..." Wendy stammered. Her voice sounded tired and not that beautiful anymore.

"Hi..." It was all Dipper could say. He still had that attraction to Wendy, not that big though. But he wasn't even able to think about that.

"So... You may be completely wrecked..." Wendy sniffled, near to tears.

Mabel answered "Yeah..." She wiped her tears. "What's with Soos?"

"Oh, he's not good, man... Just let him alone for a while, okay?" Said Wendy.

Soos was crying compulsively, he was unable to talk.

The rest of the time was spent with silence, mourn and tears.

Then, Dipper was called to make a speech in Stan's tribute.  
In the middle of Dipper's speech in the funeral, it started to rain. The suit barely protected him. Rain never felt so cold. And bearing the cruel, cold drops of water that fell like icicles, he spoke. But no speech could express properly the devastation and the sadness Dipper felt for his grunkle's loss. And Dipper didn't know how to talk from the heart that well. Mabel was better at it, but she wasn't feeling any better than Dipper right at that moment.  
Something had died inside them. Dipper tried to make his speech as short as he could. He wanted to have some time alone to rethink everything.  
Then, it was Mabel's turn. She spoke amazingly, with an emotion Dipper could never transmit with words.

"I loved my Grunkle Stan... but what hurts me the most is that people never seem to have a proper farewell. We always have something we wished to say, something we wished to do with that person... that person who left you so suddenly... that you didn't even have time to... to say goodbye properly..." Mabel started to cry. "And sometimes, you never have the opportunity to say... I love you. Or... I need you... you know? It's just..." Mabel sniffled. "He just left us so suddenly... We were so scared... We passed an infinity of good moments with our great uncle, but... it's never enough, y'know? We wished that would continue forever... So please, love your family... Go out there, and hug your parents, siblings or whatever, and say: I love you. I need you. Then you won't take the risk of being unable to say it before you die. God, I'm just so devastated... It's a big loss we suffered... Our great uncle was like a second father to us... It just feels like... It just feels like you have a huge, painful hole in your heart..." Mabel bursted into tears. "I'm sorry..."

Oh, how Dipper agreed with her. He couldn't talk like that, but he felt the exact same thing... And how it hurt. It was like a stab in his heart. He just felt like he had died too. Because that was just how he felt like. Dead. Stan indeed took away a part of them with him. And that missing part of him was now replaced for an hurricane of anger, frustration, mourn and sadness. And the same seemed to happen with his sister. He just had never seen Mabel so serious.

Mabel talked a little bit more and then ended the speech with Dipper's thoughts put in words.

"When he died... our great uncle took a part of us with him. Because we just feel so incomplete without him..." She wasn't able to stop crying. "Please, love your family as much as we loved our grunkle. We just can't bear the pain... Thanks."

Then, she joined the crowd that friendly put their hands on her shoulder and said some kind words to her. But nothing could cheer her up that moment.  
She stood next to her brother, with her eyes red from crying. She wiped her tears and cried new ones.  
Dipper held his tears. It hurt. It hurt remembering the image of their grunkle breathing for the last time and then lying lifeless on the wooden floor. It hurt knowing that it was the last time they would see him. It hurt knowing that they wouldn't have him anymore. And it hurt seeing his sister like that. It hurt so much. Too much.

After the funeral, the Twins went to the Shack and put on some comfortable clothes. Dipper put on a black hoody jacket and Mabel put on one of her handmade sweaters. But that one was different. A sweater that she has been knitting since the previous day, their first morning without Grunkle Stan. The most painful morning ever. A black sweater with a white spot. She put on a grey headband and grey, black and white earrings too. She definitely wasn't in the mood for something colorful.  
The Twins closed the Shack's door without bothering to turn on the lights, only with the windows to give them some light. They walked to the living room as two dying animals dragging themselves. Because they felt like that.  
Dipper sat on a chair of the table where Grunkle Stan used to play poker sometimes. Mabel sat on the sofa where he spent half the day watching TV and drinking Pitt Cola. All they could think about in that moment was Stan, and the awful memories of his bleeding body.  
Dipper and Mabel were living at the Shack for a while as if it was a normal house, since it didn't reopen yet.

Mabel broke the disturbing silence with the voice of someone who had already lost all hope "So... Now what?"

"I really have no idea how to run this shack, Mabel. I'm done..." Answered a hopeless, desperate Dipper, covering his face with his hands. "I'm just too young..."

9:57.  
The Twins had decided to return to the cemetery to stay some time alone near their great uncle's tomb, without that huge crowd. They just wished to have some peace in this cruel world. They wasn't asking for too much.  
It was still raining, less than in the funeral though.  
Mabel walked slowly to the tomb with tears in her eyes, with Dipper's hand standing always on her shoulder. She stood right in front of it, as if she couldn't believe that the name svelte on the tomb was "Stanford Pines".  
Then, she suddenly fell on her knees, dominated by the pain, and bursted into tears. She cried so hard her abdomen started to hurt. And Dipper's hand stood on her shoulder. He kept watching her sister crying and the name svelte on the tomb, that name that was so familiar, so close, so warm. Dipper still could barely believe that they would never see Stan again too. And holding his tears, he waited for Mabel to release all the ones she had held in pain. He waited and suffered. He didn't care if the rain was cold. He didn't care if he had profits waiting for him at the Shack. He didn't care if he could work there with Wendy. He just wanted his Grunkle Stan back.


	5. Chapter 5

Gravity Falls, Oregon. 7th July 2018.

"So? How's the investigation, Sheriff Blubs?" Dipper asked with a tired voice.  
He was already tired of suffering. It just seemed like it would never end.

"Yeah, that's what we came here to tell you." Sheriff Blubs answered, with a too carefree, unconcerned attitude.

"SO?" Dipper interrupted, anxious. He was too impatient.

"Yeah, well... This mystery is unsolvable." Blubs said.

"Yeah, that's right. Unsolvable. There were no fingerprints on his body other than yours and Ms. Mable's." Deputy Durland added.

"WHAT? You suckers just checked the fingerprints and that's all? WHAT KIND OF CRAPPY COPS ARE YOU?!" Dipper shouted.

"Careful, Mr. Pines. You're daring two cops." Blubs teased.

Durland complemented "Yeah, dude. We can..."

"YOU CAN WHAT? HUH? You can move your butts and get back to work and don't freaking stop 'til you find WHO! MURDERED! MY GREAT UNCLE!" Dipper was out of control. His voice echoed over the entire Shack.

"Dipper." Wendy whispered, quite shocked with his behavior. She had never seen him like that. But she understood him.

"Yeesh, kid. We just don't have enough evidence!" Deputy Durland riposted.

"Not enough evidence..." Dipper's voice was trembling from rage. "Of course you have evidence! You are just too LAZY to investigate the case! I remember it, you just did the same thing when we were investigating who murdered Wax Stan back when I was twelve! Please, my great uncle is DEAD! And someone murdered him! DO YOU EVEN HAVE A HEART?!"

"Look, we won't keep arguing with you, Mr. Pines. If we can even call you that. You're just a kid..." Blubs said, calm, disdainful, while cleaning the lens of his glasses with a cloth.

"And you even dare..." Dipper freaked out then. He would throw himself to the cops and start an ugly fight right there if Soos and Wendy didn't hold him firmly. "YOU EVEN DARE CALLING ME A KID! AFTER... AFTER EVERYTHING I'VE PASSED THROUGH! YOU SCOUNDRELS!

"That's right. You're a kid!" Durland said.

"Let's face the reality. You're 18. Where was your grunkle's mind when he chose you to be the new owner? It's just... Ha ha... Ha ha ha ha!" Blubs and Durland started laughing.  
Dipper's mind was in fire. He just wanted to end up with that fake cops' lives for being just so awfully disrespectful. He tried to calm the horrible storm inside himself, his chest shrinking and enlarging too fast as he breathed heavily from rage. Soos and Wendy had to keep holding him.

"Oh, God, it's just too hilarious! Yeesh, why didn't he put Ms. Mabel in control? She would be a so much better owner, don't you think?" Deputy Durland kept teasing him.

"Oh, Ms. Mabel? Sure she would be! At least she can lift some weight without ending up all tired!" Blubs answered, what unlocked laughter from both cops again.  
Dipper was nuts, his mind in a furious hurricane wanting to swallow everything around it.

"Coming to think of it, this Shack was better when Gideon took it over than when it reopens under your control. You are the same boy we met in 2012. You're just a kid. Enjoy this old shack while it lasts! Or why don't you just give the deed to Gideon and return to California? C'mon, we all know you can't run this shack. It'll be better with Gideon." Blubs said.  
Durland laughed.  
Dipper's eyes widened. Gideon? How did they dare? Gideon had taken away from them their summer home and Stan's definitive home AND job! Now they deserved to die! He tried desperately to release himself from Soos's and Wendy's arms.

"YOU SONS OF A B*TCH!" He had lost all control.

"There's no use to swear... city boy." Blubs gave him a disdainful smile.  
They were underestimating Dipper too much.

Sheriff Blubs and Deputy Durland were about to leave Dipper in that deplorable state, when Blubs stopped, turned to Dipper and said  
"Hey. The only fingerprints we found were yours and Mabel's. Are you sure you didn't kill him?"  
That just didn't make any sense. They had only said that to piss him off. And they managed to. Dipper was now even more mad.

"WHAT?! WHAT DID YOU SAY, YOU..."  
Blubs and Durland just exited the Mystery Shack and disrespectfully closed the door behind them while Dipper shouted madly, so they couldn't hear the cursing and the swears he yelled at them.

When they were gone, Soos and Wendy let Dipper go. He just stood still, staring at the door from where the two cops disappeared. His breath was heavy and his head hot. Then he lost his balance and had to take two steps back to make sure he didn't fall.

"Ah man, I'm so sorry, guys..." He said as he put a hand on his forehead.

"Hey. That's okay, dude. Those cops were real assholes. Don't worry, man. I would do the same thing." Wendy tried to comfort him, putting a hand on Dipper's shoulder.

"Yeah, dude. Don't worry." Soos couldn't say anything more, though. He was too sad, didn't know what to say. But he was frustrated for not being able to comfort his friend like Wendy did.

"Yeesh, you're too kind, guys..." Dipper smiled.  
Then he sat on the seat behind the cash desk where Wendy used to work.

"Oh Gosh... Now what if they use the fingerprint evidence against me and Mabel? Our lives will be ruined!" He turned his face at the ceiling, trying to chill out.

"Don't worry, Dipper. They just said that to piss you off. They CAN'T do that. They need much more evidence to incriminate someone of murder." Wendy crossed her arms, leaning on the cash desk.

"Man, I dunno... What if they... What if they..."

"Shhh. Dude, chill out. They won't do anything." Wendy interrupted Dipper, giving him a sweet, assuring smile.  
Dipper smiled back. How glad he was to have a friend like her at his side.

Then, he noticed Soos. He just kept staring at the floor, with the hands the hands in his pockets. Dipper understood that Soos was trying to find something nice to say, but Stan's death disturbed him too much. Oh, how he felt sorry for his friend.

The three just stood there, rethinking everything.  
Some time later, Wendy went to the entrance, grabbed the doorknob and said "So... we're going. I guess you need some time alone, don't you?"

"Yeah. Thanks, Wendy." He answered, without looking at her.  
Wendy exited the Mystery Shack and Soos followed her, closing the door behind them. Not after looking at Dipper one last time, with a sad glare.  
-

Dipper had pulled a mountain of paperwork for the Shack and was trying to focus on it, although it was difficult, with such a storm of thoughts in his mind haunting him at every second. _Hell, Mabel should be helping me_, he thought. He felt some hard feelings for his sister, that was visiting their parents at Piedmont, instead of doing the paperwork. He tried to forget about that feelings and focus on his work, but he just couldn't. Stan, Mabel, the huge, overwhelming and stressful burden he had to carry now. He had too much in his mind in that moment. So he just put the pen on the table and tried to chill out, his fingers running through his brown hair as he sighed heavily.

Suddenly, his attention turned to the vending machine. He remembered how Grunkle Stan always wanted the Twins to keep as far from it as they could. And he remembered that time in 2013 when he came to investigate the vending machine without his sister, curiosity burning inside him. He just couldn't help it. But when Grunkle Stan found him... well, he hit him hard on the head with the newspaper as if he was some kind of street dog, and Dipper was grounded. He remembered it clearly, but couldn't be mad at Stan in that moment. He just couldn't, and was heartbroken for his death.

But what did he hide in that vending machine that was so important? Dipper hadn't noticed that in the night of Grunkle Stan's death, the vending machine was already a little bit open. And Durland and Blubs were just too lazy to investigate there. Or maybe they were afraid of what they could find there. Cops should be brave, though. That's what Dipper thought. _Damn, I would be such a better cop than those sissies..._

He got up and walked to the vending machine. There was still a little bit of dry blood in the spot on which Stan died. When he saw it, he thought that maybe he shouldn't be doing that. But it could be something important. It could be for the greater good. So he opened the vending machine's door.


	6. Chapter 6

The vending machine's buttons were broken, and some were missing. _Oh God, how didn't I notice this yet? _Dipper thought. As he walked down the stairs slowly and cautiously, he felt a spooky feeling growing inside him. Then, he looked at the stairs. There was blood spread everywhere. He started to feel scared. Maybe down there was a bigger thing than he imagined.  
At the end of the stairs, he found an elevator which lobby was already open. It was quite dark, and what seemed to be a security device next to it was somewhat broken, only suspended by a thin power cord. Good thing he didn't need to enter the password, since the elevator lobby was open. He entered there, even if the scared little boy inside of him begged to run away from there. The elevator fortunately worked, with some malfunctions, though.  
When the elevator finally stopped, Dipper had to force it to open a bit. When he got out, he was amazed with all that mechanical devices and stuff. It was a narrow, dark room, full of machines, scanners and other devices out of Dipper's knowledge. But, aside from very few things that were still working and spreading some light, the place looked utterly destroyed. The machines were falling apart, scratched, smashed and damaged. Power cords and pipes were broken and falling. It just looked like a herd of cows had passed by there one hundred years ago. _Why did Grunkle Stan build all this?_ Dipper was confused. He felt a little twinge of hard feelings. He just felt like Grunkle Stan had been fooling him and Mabel all this time, hiding something that could be important, something big.  
Good thing Dipper had a small pocket lantern. He turned it on and examined the broken devices. God, they were really in a bad state. The cheap one-dollar lantern didn't light that well, but it still did its work. He pointed the lantern to the floor, and shocked him. It was full of dry blood and some sort of sticky black thing that looked like oil. It looked like something made out of dark magic.  
He kept walking. Then, he found a metal desk full of buttons and small levers. Some were broken, some were missing. In the desk, next to all those buttons, was an empty space, only with a small compartment that seemed meant to keep important and secret things. It was half open. On that empty space of the desk, in front of the compartment, was a mysterious book that he couldn't see well in that darkness. Above the desk, there was a glass window that had view for another dark, small room. But Dipper would investigate that later. He was more interested on the desk itself, and in what secrets that little compartment could contain.  
He was atonished when he pointed the lantern to the book. Journal 1?! _What the hell?!_ Dipper thought to himself. His mind blew up. He dropped the lantern and rushed to the book, picking it up as if there was someone who could steal it. He used the sleeve of his flannel shirt to remove the thick layer of dust from the book, to reveal a golden six-fingered hand with the number 1 on it.

"Oh God... Can't be..." He whispered as he stared at the cover of the journal. "Can't be... Why did Grunkle Stan..."

He almost dropped the book when he tripped on something on the floor next to the chair of the desk. Journal 2. He grabbed both Journals, Journal 1 being the most damaged, with the marks from claws and scratches. Journal 2 looked damaged too, though, and both Journals seemed to have pages missing. He opened the 2 journals. Then he looked at the floor. Plenty of pages were ripped off. But why? Who did that? Not Grunkle Stan, certainly.  
He put the journals on the desk and walked into the door for the other room, which was already open and broken.  
What he saw there was an empty room with a triangular portal that seemed completely old and shabby. Some of that dark thing was dripping from the portal and staining the floor. Next to it was a big lever. Dipper slowly approached from that huge triangle figure. Along with the dark thing, blood was dripping too. That portal looked like something that had been used a long time ago and was abandoned.  
He chose to take the journals with him. He was about to leave that weird place with a hurricane of questions in his mind, when he found something hidden on the floor in a corner. Photocopies. Black and white photocopies from his journal! And some sheets of paper were a little ripped. He picked them up, unable to believe that. So that was what Stan took his Journal away for! He had photocopied them and then gave it back to Dipper. But the invisible ink wasn't copied. He then looked at the walls of that place. Blood and that black thing again. Forming the shape of triangles. Then he noticed a message on the wall written with those two fluids grossly mixed: "I was here."  
And he had an idea of who was that "I".

Dipper carefully closed the vending machine's door. He decided not to share that secret with anyone, not even with his sister, even though he felt she deserved to know.  
A sudden voice freaked him out.

"Hi there, bro! Doin' weird stuff already?" It was Mabel.

_Oh, hell!_, Dipper thought. He just hid the journals putting the hands behind his back.

"Uh, hi sis'. How's... how's all that going at home with... our Grunkle's death and all that..." Dipper asked nervously.

"Oh, they're fine. They're recovering. I mean, Grunkle Stan's death affected everyone..." She then sighed. "Hey! Y'know what?" She added, to cheer everything up.

"What?"

"Waddles is living with us!" Waddles appeared in the door. He was chubby and huge, a grown-up boar. "I was taking Waddles with me to return him to our house at Piedmont after the funeral, but my parents said that he was mine and that he should live here now! Isn't it the best?" Her now braceless smile was big and bright. Dipper remembered the time when she still had braces, and when she took them off when they were fourteen. He missed that time when he still could see the braces in her mouth when she smiled. He missed everything from that old times.

"Yeah, that's great, sister." He said, not paying much attention to the pig.

"So... I have his little bed, his blankets... Oh, and his toys too. You know how he can't survive without Foxy the Pirate Fox!" Mabel said, putting Waddles' stuff on the wooden floor for a moment and showing her brother a cute plushie of a chibi fox with a hook in the left hand, a lifted eyepatch and light brown pants.

"Yeah, of course. Where's he sleeping?" Dipper asked. Crap, the Journals almost fell from his hands!

"I guess he's sleeping with me, as always. Talking about that, bro, we still didn't decide where we're gonna sleep." said Mabel.

"Uhh... Well, there's Soos's bedroom that he's still using at times, so we have our old attic bedroom and Stan's room. I guess I can sleep in Stan's room. Since I'm the owner now, that sounds right, I guess. You don't mind sleeping in our attic bedroom, right?"

"You sound cocky. Just because you're the owner now and not me, brother. I still don't get why you're more importante than me." Mabel wondered, petting Waddles' fox plushie.

"Mabel, please, let's not start arguing because of this." Dipper said, kind of impatient.

"Okay, fine. But I still want a full cup of Mabel Juice every morning for breakfast just because you're talking cocky." Mabel crossed her arms. "With Smile Dip."

"Yeah, yeah, Mabel Juice for everyone." Dipper smiled awkwardly, trying to move away from Mabel without showing the Journals.  
But she wasn't stupid.

"What to you have on your hands?" Mabel stretched her neck in an attempt to see the secret objects, with her arms still crossed.

"What are you talkin' about, sis'?" Dipper laughed nervously. "I just... Y'know... Mystery and stuff... eh."  
Then, he disappeared from the gift shop like an arrow and went to their old attic bedroom.

_God, I'm horrible at hiding stuff from Mabel..._ Dipper thought as he closed the door and sat on his bed, staring at the books. Then, he looked around. He and Mabel had taken to Piedmont their stuff from the summer holidays, as always. But he remembered that there was something still remaining.  
He picked up his big painting of a ship in the sea and put it on the bed, next to him. God, that bedroom was getting so small as the years passed... He ripped off a wallpaper that looked exactly like the wooden Wall of his bedroom and there it was. Dipper's corkboard of "Big Mysteries". He took off the rather thick layer of dust. The big mysteries remained all there. The secrets about the town, the author of the Journals, Gideon, Bill and the Shack itself... but Dipper still hadn't managed to solve any of them, after six years. Of course, he had gotten closer and closer to the answers, but still didn't completely solve anything. He sighed in frustration, a impatient, tired sigh. But then, he looked at the three Journals and smiled. Now that he had the three, the answers would be a piece of cake. A whole new wave of determination filled him.  
But just when he was about to pick up the three Journals, the door opened suddenly. Dipper gasped and only had time to put the two new Journals under the blanket.

"Uh, Dipper. I forgot to ask you. Did you want me to bring you something from Piedmont?" Mabel laughed. "I totally forgot, y'know? I only brought Waddles! Pffff." She slapped her forehead, sticking her tongue out and spitting.

"No, no, that's fine, sister. After all, we have everything we need here. Right?" Dipper answered.

Mabel faked a smile and nodded. Then, she closed the attic door, stood against it, stared at the lightless hall and sighed.

"Well... We don't have Grunkle Stan..."

She returned to the gift shop with watery eyes.


	7. Chapter 7

***NOTE: Pretend that the laptop countdown scene didn't happen in 'Northwest Mansion Mystery'.***

Dipper peeked at the hall. Mabel was gone. He sat on the bed again and promptly took his Journals out of the blankets.

"So... Let's see." Dipper whispered, with a wave of curiosity invading his soul. What new intriguing stuff would he find in the new Journals?

Journal 3 was a bit old, with the marks of big claws on its back, from when Dipper and Mabel had fought a werewolf when they were fourteen, keeping it from killing Wendy. But Journal 1 and 2 were much more old and damaged. Dipper picked up the ripped pages from the Journals 1 and 2 out of his pockets and put them near them. The investigation was about to begin again.

There were some interesting things about Bill Cipher in Journal 2.

"In some cases, the dream demon can leave tracks of dark magic behind, a sticky, black fluid that looks like oil." Dipper read. "YES! It's here..."

Then, he closed the Journal. He could still remember in detail some things from their first summer in Gravity Falls. That day when Bill possessed his body... It gave him chills.

"What did Bill say to me?" He whispered thoughtfully, clicking repeatedly on a pen that was on the table that separated Dipper's bed from Mabel's. "Something like... He wanted my journal! He wanted to destroy it..."

He quickly opened Journal 3 on the first pages.

"Unfortunately, my suspicions have been confirmed. I'm being watched. I must hide this book before _he_ finds it. Remember: in Gravity Falls there is no one you can trust..." He read the "Trust No One" page. "Before _he_ finds it... It's Bill! So that's why the Author had to hide the Journal from him! He wanted to destroy it!"  
Then, he remembered what he found on Stan's secret room, all the ripped pages and the Journals lying on the floor like they were thrown.

"God, everything makes sense now!" Dipper widened his eyes, looking at the image of Bill on his corkboard. "He wanted to destroy _all _the Journals!"

Dipper got up from the bed and started roaming around the tiny attic.

"He was so close to destroy the Journals... But why didn't he manage to?" He said to himself. "I need to return to that vending machine..."

Suddenly, his cell phone rang, scaring him a bit. He didn't even bother to see who was calling him.

"Yes?" He said.

"Dipper! Hey there!" He was caught by surprise. That was Pacifica's voice!

"Pacifica? Hi! It's been quite long since you last called me! What's up?" He smiled, happy to hear his friend again.

"Look... I heard about your great uncle's death... I'm sorry for you and Mabel..." Her voice was sincerely sad.

"Oh, don't... don't worry for us. We're recovering well." He tried to sound as optimist as he could. But honestly, theyweren't recovering well.

"You're my best friend. If you both need anything at all let me know, okay? Do you need some help there at the Shack? I can go work there with you! I'll find a way to fool my parents." Pacifica kindly said. Dipper understood by her enthusiastic voice tone that she considered such life better than her boring life in that wealthy prison.

"Oh man, Pacifica, thank you! Thank you so much, really. It's not necessary, you don't have to, thanks!"

"I'll be here for whatever you and Mabel need, okay? I didn't forget what you did for me. The gates of the Manor will always be open for you two, no matter what my parents say." She said, assuring and comforting.

_Wow, how she has changed... _Dipper thought, remembering the horrible snake she was to Mabel back when they were twelve.

"Thanks, Pacifica. Really, thank you." He answered, calm.

"Okay... I'll be there in the reopening tomorrow. Bye, Dipper."

"Bye, Pacifica."

He put his cell phone back on the table, smiling gladly. He still remembered how arrogant and horrible she was in the beginning of the summer when they were twelve, and it was just amazing how she was so kind and caring at the moment... calling him because of Stan's death... He needed someone like Pacifica to cheer him up. He would need it, he had a long way to go and a whole bunch of work waiting for him. He breathed heavily.

"God, tomorrow... Tomorrow already..." He passed his hand through his brown hair, walking in circles in the small attic, worried.

He looked through the window of their attic. That triangular window. Just like the monster who had killed their great uncle. The monster who took away Stan's life and probably many more just because of some dumb plan he had in mind! Rage started to fill him and, without thinking, he kicked his bed and madly picked up Bill's photo from the corkboard, ripping it a little bit.

"That monster!" Dipper yelled as he looked deep in the demon's odd and terrifying eye. "I'll keep him from taking away just one more soul!"

Then, he picked up a photo of Stan and the Twins that was lying on the table between the Twins' beds and stared at it, his eyes with tears of rage.

"Don't worry, Grunkle Stan... I won't let him get away with this... I won't let him kill one more person from our blood... I'll avenge you. This all stops now."

8th July 2018. Gravity Falls, Oregon. 6:53 am

Dipper got up about two hours before the grand reopening. Mabel was still asleep in their attic.  
Soos couldn't attend to the reopening that day. He was really bad, with a huge depression, and he couldn't go to the Mystery Shack. Stan's death was affecting him greatly. So Dipper had to fix the vending machine and do the final touches on the shack by himself in the previous day, with a little help from Wendy and Mabel, who knew little about fixing stuff. It was being difficult without Soos, but they knew working in that state would only make him feel worse.  
Wendy couldn't go too. She was helping her father, Manly Dan, chopping off some trees two days ago, but one of them accidentally fell on her, and she ended up having to go to the hospital.

Dipper walked through the darkened hall, sweating nervously. He wasn't prepared to receive the first tourists. Not without Grunkle Stan. He felt so lost now that he didn't have his great uncle...

At some point, Dipper stopped and lied against the wooden wall, staring at the ceiling. Staring in affliction. That was such an awful feeling... He didn't know what to do, he didn't even know what to say. He was smart and resourceful, and he did know how to lie and fool people like Stan. But he was scared. If he didn't succeed managing the Shack, he would end up losing it. He would ruin Wendy's and Soos's lives. They would lose their only jobs. It was too much responsibility for an eighteen-year-old. He closed his eyes and tried to chill out, sighing deeply. His sigh came out trembling. He opened his eyes again and looked at his hands. They were shaking. He lifted them and wiped out the sweat from his forehead. How he felt Stan's loss. He could be mean and abusive to him sometimes, but he knew Stan loved him. He knew it. Dipper just wanted to find a way to get out of that nightmare. Any way. Maybe he was overreacting, but... he couldn't take it. He even started thinking about the unthinkable in that moment, when he noticed that the attic's door was open, spreading a ray of light in the darkened hall.

He entered the attic and found Mabel sleeping, hugging Waddles with the right arm and holding her old grappling hook with the left hand. Waddles barely fit on the bed with Mabel, as he already was such a big chubby boar. He walked slowly in her direction and knelt at her side, trying to forget everything.

He then slowly noticed the triangular window of their attic. As he stared at it, he remembered Bill. That isosceles monster who pushed them into that bottomless pit. Distress started to burn his heart again, as he closed his fist in anger. That monster wouldn't get away with what he had done.

He turned his head to find Mabel's calm, closed eyes, searching something to make his rage vanish. That immense peace somehow just spreaded to his soul. Sibling telepathy, some people said. He moved his hand to pet Mabel's wavy, smooth hair. That gave him a wide smile, a tiny ray of light in all that darkness. He breathed deeply, looking at his sister with compassionate eyes. Then, he kissed her forehead. No, he would throw the rope to hell. He wouldn't give up. Not when he had his sister to take care of and his grunkle's business to keep. He wouldn't be that selfish and unconcerned. His sister needed him. And Stan still counted on him. Mabel would help.

Dipper got up and went to the attic's door. He stared at his sister one last time before leaving. She always gave him so much strenght, so much motivation to move on... She was the reason why he hasn't still given up. And he wouldn't do that. He would resist. He would have a succeessful career, for his sister.

Dipper had found Stan's old tour guide suit that fit his thin body perfectly. He returned to his great uncle's bedroom with the suit and sat on the bed, staring at it. It had a little bit of dust for being stored for some time. It intrigued him. Grunkle Stan was never that thin, even in his first years running the Mystery Shack, he was much bolder and more robust than Dipper. Then, a thought passed through his mind. Maybe that suit was ment for Dipper.

He closed the bedroom's door and changed clothes.

When he went to the bathroom looked at the mirror with that suit, it was like a sudden punch in the stomach. He looked just like Grunkle Stan. He tried to hold it back, he tried hard, but he couldn't. The tears just got out of his tired eyes. It was stronger than him. He missed his great uncle so much. And that moment when he looked at himself in Stan's suit, he realized how similar they were... Even though Stan seemed ashamed of him sometimes, Dipper knew that his grunkle felt that similarity. He knew it, since that day he, Mabel and Soos entered Stan's mind, and he saw them. Those memories. Shocking, heartbreaking, relieving, warm, comforting, all at the same time. And now, he would take his place. Just one more proof of how equal they were. Dipper tried to drown the feeling of that sudden hole in his heart and made his way out of the bathroom and to the gift shop.

Dipper still had half an hour left. He then stopped in the middle of the gift shop, examining everything he now would have to take care of. Would he be capable of doing that? Oh, he really hoped he could do it. He just felt that so much depended on him.

He took a deep breath of courage and sighed, and walked to the gift shop shelf full of Mystery Shack snow globes. He looked at the price. 10$. Then he remembered what his great uncle said to him.

_"Raise the prices, kid. You deserve it."_

He felt like it was a thing he needed to do, for his dead grunkle. He smiled with a boost of motivation and nodded as if Stan was still there with him. Then, he picked up a pen from his pocket and drew one zero on it. 100$. His great uncle would be proud of him. He closed his eyes, keeping the geniunely happy smile, suddenly feeling in peace after so much time. He didn't even remember how it was like feeling true peace.

He was ready to receive the tourists. For his grunkle.

9 am

It was time. He took a deep breath and peeked at the window. Dear Lord, so many tourists! That crowd started to make him feel nervous. He looked at every tourist, searching for Pacifica. He wished she managed to get there.

He was starting to feel impatient and incredibly tense.

"Where the hell is Mabel?" He whispered. She was already supposed to be there.

Suddenly, a girl in a long, brown jacket, with sunglasses and a cloth on her head that left uncovered a little bit of her blonde bangs appeared in the middle of the crowd, trying to be unnoticed.

"Pacifica! Thank goodness..." He sighed, so relieved. Seeing his friend again after so much time gave him a smile and made some of the tension vanish.

But he was still nervous about his sister. Should he go to the attic and see if she was there? _Crap, Mabel always does this... _Dipper thought, blowing in impatience.

Suddenly, Mabel's happy and loud voice interrupted Dipper's thoughts, scaring him.

"Hey, brother! How do I look?"

When he recovered from the shock, he turned to see Mabel in a 80's dark blue business suit like the one she wore while trying to manage the Mystery Shack in their first summer in Gravity Falls. The only different thing was the color.

"Ohhh, it'll be just like when we were managing the shack in Grunkle Stan's place, remember? It was amazing!" She exclaimed, filling Dipper's shoulder with harmless, excited punches.

Oh, he remembered it. And he remembered well that he made a great work guiding the tourists on that tour through the oddities museum. He smiled, recovering some of his confidence. With his sister at his side, it would be a piece of cake. What could go wrong?

"Yeah. It'll be awesome, sis'." He turned his head to gaze into her bright brown eyes, full of yearning. "Just like the old times, uh?"

She returned his gazing with the same yearning svelte on her eyes.

"Did I already tell you you look just like Grunkle Stan?"

That sentence hit Dipper like a cannon. Indeed he wasn't the only one to notice that. Maybe they really were that similar. It gave him that will to cry, but he easily held it. However, he didn't know how to react.

"Thanks, Mabel." It was the only thing he managed to say.

She answered him with the sweet, caring, assuring smile of a sibling.

"So... Should we go now?" Dipper asked, nervous.

"Well, I guess we can't wait the whole day. Pacifica's waiting, isn't she?" Mabel smiled to her brother. She already knew.

She may not have heard the conversation, but something inside her told her she would be there.

They went to the entrance of the shack. The twins tried to chill out in silence before rotating the doorknob.

Dipper took a deep breath and looked at his sister. "Together."

"Together." She answered, holding his hand.

Feeling the warm and assuring tenderness of each other's hand, they knew they weren't all alone in this. Their great uncle was dead, but they had each other. As always. The siblings stepped into the outside and opened the door, looking at the crowd of tourists. But of course they were looking more at Pacifica, their dear childhood friend, who smiled with delight as she saw the Pines twins.

"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, grown-ups and kids! Be our guest for the great reopening of the best - and cheapest - attraction on the whole world!" Dipper announced with a corteous smile.

"Enjoy this new Mystery Shack under the management of the Pines Twins!" Mabel smiled, enthusiastically posing with her brother. "Y'know, the old manager of the Mystery Shack had a little... accident..." Mabel began explaining.

"He's dead. The whole town knows." Someone in the crowd interrupted Mabel, speaking with that cold honesty.

"Ehr... Thank you." That caught Mabel by surprise, but then she calmly answered the jerk in a sarcastic way.

Dipper was just as offended by that asshole as Mabel was. But he just wanted to talk with Pacifica so hard that he just speeded the whole thing up.

"And now, without any more delays, let me and my good partner and twin sister guide you through the wonders of our museum. And don't forget to buy a souvenir after the tour!"

"And remember, we put the fun in no refunds!" The twins said, chorused.

Great. Their first day of work had ended, and went perfectly well. Dipper and Mabel put their hands on hips as they watched the tourists leave the Mystery Shack meadow. They looked at each other, smiling, sighing in relief and calmly laughing in satisfaction.

"First day of work, uh? Not bad, !" She cheerfully congratulated her brother.

"Please, we're the Mystery Twins. There's_ nothing_ we can't do." He smiled to Mabel.

They did their Mystery Twins thing, high-fiving, sticking out their tongues and bumping fists, just like they used to do when they were twelve.

"Blip, blap, bloobity bloop, TWINS! Pfff."

They laughed. It felt so good to do it again. For the first time in a long time, they felt like they were reviving their good old past. The hug they gave each other then was tight and full of sibling love. None of them could do what they did that day without the other.

Now they could talk to Pacifica.

"Oh my God, guys, I didn't see you in a while!" Pacifica exclaimed in delight, taking off her sunglasses and gathering Dipper and Mabel in one single tender, friendly, tight hug. She was so happy to see the twins again.

"Paz! What's up?" Mabel greeted.

The blonde girl laughed before she answered. "I'm doing good, actually. I'm managing to survive with these shitty parents I have."

"So, what's with that outfit of yours? Are you still ashamed of being seen in this hovel?" Dipper joked with a wide smile.

Pacifica laughed. "Oh God, Dip, you still remember that!" Then she got more serious. "But actually, no... Y'know, I had such a big discussion with my parents last week, and they... they paid some people. Now they have eyes everywhere. I have to be careful... It'll be tough to get back to the Manor... My parents are ruining my life..."

The twins kept silence. They didn't know how to react.

"Oh... Pacifica..." It was all Dipper could say. He felt so sorry for his friend.

"Please, don't fell sorry for me. You were worse than me a couple of days ago. Are you alright?" The girl really cared for them.

"Yeah, we're just fine, don't worry. Someone dies, it's sad, but... life just continues." Mabel said with a kinda melancholic smile.

"Oh, I'm glad. That stupid dumbass back there didn't help either... He was so indelicate..." Paz was offended by that behavior too.

"Yeah, indeed... Some people just..." Mabel agreed, but she just didn't find words to finish the sentence, so she prefered to shut up not to get upset.

"Do you know him?" Dipper asked.

"I think he's Old Man McGucket's grandson, or something..." Pacifica answered, not very sure, though.

"Pff. He takes after his father." Dipper commented.

"Poor McGucket..." Mabel lamented.

"Well, I can't say much... The way I treated you some years ago... I was _just like_ my parents." She said with a mix of shame and rage.

"Oh, Paz, please! It was so long ago! I already forgave you!" She exclaimed.

"Yeah, but..." She whispered, looking at the ground. "It's hard... I would give anything not to be a Northwest." Her voice was full of pain.

"Hey, hey. Shh, it's okay." Mabel smiled kindly to her friend, lifting her head to look at her misty blue eyes.

Pacifica stammered "I'm trying to fight against them, but... they fight back..." She moved away her long blonde hair to show a small hematoma in her nape.

When Dipper saw that, his heart got so full of rage it hurt.

"HOW DARE THEY? HOW DARE THEY DO SUCH A THING TO YOU?! THEY'RE YOUR PARENTS!"

He approached his face to examine the hematoma.

"AND THEY DID IT ON A PLACE THAT'S HIDDEN BY YOUR HAIR! SUCH A COUPLE OF SMART MOTHERFUCKERS!"

When Dipper realized he was calling that to her parents, he stopped and quickly said, trying to contain his rage "Oh God, sorry, Pacifica..."

"No, that's alright. That's alright. They are, indeed." She said with hard feelings, letting go her hair.

"If you get back to the Manor, they'll do worse!" Mabel exclaimed, alarmed.

"I'll figure out a way..." Pacifica then lamented, full of remorse "I'm sorry for making you feel like this. I... I shouldn't even have showed you the wound."

Dipper interrupted her, furious. "No! You did well in showing us! You gotta ask for help! This needs to stop **right now**! I always knew that Preston was a son of a bitch! I'm going with you! I won't let them hurt you again!"


	8. Chapter 8

"Dipper, seriously?! I can go with you, stop acting like you're the clever leader here!" Mabel exclaimed.

"Mabel, please, for God's sake!" Dipper interrupted his sister, turning around to face her. "You..." He stopped before saying something crazy and sighed to chill out. "Mabel, someone has to look after the Shack. And that Preston is crazy, I don't want him to... y' know? Hurt you or something..." Dipper's voice showed clear fear.  
Mabel just stared at him, surprised. Sometimes she had such ideas about her brother who she actually knew so well. How could she think that Dipper had done that to her just for pride?  
The boy looked at his sister with a sweet, melancholic smile, and laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Bye, Mabel. I'll be back in no time. Your little brother has a sermon to give to a couple of rich jerks." He smiled to her and then left, followed by Pacifica, who remained alarmed and afraid.

8th July 2018. Gravity Falls, Oregon. Outside the Northwest Manor. 8:23 pm

Dipper might had grown up a lot, but that intimidating gate remained just as huge for him. It remained a symbol of the cold heart of that wealthy family.  
Pacifica, at his side, started getting terrified.

"Dipper, please, leave me here, you don't need to do this." Pacifica's trembling voice was disquietingly nervous.

Dipper interrupted her with a firm voice. "Pacifica. Listen to me." He laid his hands on her shoulders. "I can handle them. They won't harm you or me. Okay?" However, deep inside he had that little seed of fear and anxiety.

Pacifica nodded nervously. Dipper then stared at the gate, looking for a door bell. "This godforsaken gate doesn't even have a door bell!"

"That's because they have hidden cameras and sensors all over the mansion." Pacifica explained.

"Oh, yeah, the regular boy here forgot that rich people use cameras instead of door bells so they can see if the person coming is rich enough to be worthy to come in." Dipper sarcastically grumbled to himself.

"I've... I've found a weak spot with no cameras or sensors to get in the manor..." Pacifica suggested, but Dipper immediately threw that idea off the window.

"Oh, Pacifica, Pacifica, please." When Pacifica stopped muttering nervously, he told her what he had in mind. "C'mon, you can do this. Just go to a place you can be detected by the cameras or sensors or... whatever, and I'll enter with you when they open the gate."

Pacifica was scared of what could happen. But she could bear that. She had already put up with 18 years being abused by her parents. With a stroke of courage, she took a deep breath and nodded determinedly to Dipper, who gave her an assuring smile.

"Sir, Ms. Pacifica has returned." said the buntler.

That arrogant man's height was intimidating when he rose from his armchair in the surveillance room.

"Let the kid enter. She needs to learn a lesson." His deep, daunting voice with that fancy accent echoed through the room.

"Yes, Mr. Northwest." The buntler said, and hastily headed to the main gate lever.

Pacifica widened her eyes and all of her muscles got tense when the gate opened in front of her, revealing the wealthy prison she had been trapped in her whole life.

"You're always like that when you return home from somewhere?" Dipper whispered to her, impressed with how tense she was. She had passed through this so many times.

"Dipper, I guess people never get used to abuse and spanking." She riposted, with a mix of sadness and anger.  
Dipper could be so inconvenient sometimes. He had such a wonderful family. He could never know how it was like to have a horrible family like hers. She would never ever admit, but deep inside she felt jealous of the Pines twins. She had always felt. That was one of the strongest reasons why she hated Mabel so much in the past. She was the one to give her the painful realization that money can't buy happiness. At that time, she wasn't ready to accept that. So she thought trying to end up with that happiness would make her feel better. Now she knew she couldn't be more wrong, and she felt so much guilt for having been following her parents' footsteps. If it wasn't for Dipper... she'd have ended up just like them.

Dipper laid a hand on her shoulder after realizing how inconvenient and stupid he was. "Sorry... but don't worry, okay? I swear to God that as long as I'm here, they won't do any of those things to you. Trust me."

Pacifica smiled to her friend. He was doing so much for her, and he wasn't even asked to do anything. That much kindness was still weird and foreign to her.

Mrs. Northwest had joined Preston in the surveillance room, who kept staring at the cameras with a sadistic look of interest svelte on his face. "Look what we have here. She brought a friend..." He approached his face from the image to try to see who the boy was. "Oh... look who he is! The little ghost hunter. God, he sure grew up a lot..."

"Come, dear. Let's give him the proper welcome." Mrs. Northwest smiled, leaving the room.

Preston looked at the cameras for a while before following his wife to the manor's entrance door.

"It's good to see you again, boy." Preston said with an annoying fake courtesy when Dipper burst into the manor, violently pushing the big entrance doors.

"Quit with the cheesy bullshit, Preston!" Dipper demanded with furious hand gestures. "I know what you've been doing to your daughter!" He then approached from him, his finger pointing reproachfully at him. "And I swear to God, if you touch her again, I'll call the police! I'll call the police, I'll ask everyone for help, I'll do anything it takes to stop this shit!"

The haughty millionaire didn't react to Dipper's threats. He didn't move a muscle. He just kept staring at the boy with disdainful eyes. Suddenly, he bursted laughing, not losing, however, his elegant composure.

"You still think you're some kind of revolutionary hero, don't you? You still think you can change the world and stand against truly worthy people? You still didn't learn to respect your superiors after so many years... It's a shame." Those insults only made Dipper's rage grow. "I don't think you would want to prejudice us, Pines. We have much more power in this town than you do." Then, he snapped his fingers and a buntler immediately appeared, submissively avoiding making eye contact with Preston. "Newspaper. Now." His voice was firm and authoritarian. The buntler disappeared in a hurried pace and in few seconds he was coming back with the newspaper. Preston opened it and revealed the page with the news of the Shack's reopening. "We could sabotage your little business with an incredible ease. "Piece of cake", as you uncouth townsfolk say. And I know that if this dirty hovel falls... your family will fall with it. So be careful with who you play with, street rat!"

"Father!" Pacifica yelled, horrified with what Preston had just said.

Dipper was already burning with wrath. His fury was a raging hurricane fighting to be unleashed. That was enough.

"DON'T YOU DARE! DON'T YOU DARE HURTING MY FAMILY, YOU HEARING?!" He'd have jumped on the millionaire and blowed his face if the buntler didn't imediatelly hold him with all the strength he had.

"It's funny how you keep trying to change the world." Preston commented as three more buntlers came to hold Dipper. "But you weren't nearly as impulsive as you are now, however." He then let out a stingy laugh along with his wife as the boy tried to set himself free.

"You should go back to your hovel now, don't you think?" Mrs. Northwest scoffed, lifting her hand mirror to check her perfectly set dark blue eyeshadow.

Preston then snapped his fingers and the buntlers dragged Dipper out of the mansion as he left a trail of insults and swears in the air that kept tinkling in Pacifica's ears.

It was the last time she saw her friend.


End file.
